Community schools produce booklet on WWI history

There’s plenty going on this week throughout the Wrexham area as part of centenary commemorations for the First World War.

And pupils at Ysgol Cefn Mawr, Ysgol Min y Ddol and Ysgol Rhosymedre produced a booklet detailing the lives and histories of men from the area who went to fight in the First World War, with each school looking at about 40 men.

Their work was part of a wider project to teach children in the area about the war, which also saw pupils visit the National Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The booklet was funded with a £9,000 grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust. Part of the fund went towards the booklet, with the remainder going to silhouette models used to commemorate soldiers who served in the war, which have been installed at schools in the area and the village cenotaph.

Cllr Derek Wright, ward member for Cefn, said: “Children at a number of schools put a lot of work into researching the history of some of the men from Cefn Mawr who served during the war, and we wanted to make sure that their work was properly collected, displayed and kept for posterity’s sake.

“All those children involved in producing the booklet deserve to be congratulated for their work – there are plenty of stories about the role that the community of Cefn Mawr played during the First World War, and the children have captured them excellently.”

Cllr David Griffiths, Armed Forces Champion, said: “I’d like to thank and congratulate Cefn Mawr Community Council for the effort they’ve put in to the production of this booklet, as well as the hard work of all pupils involved in gathering stories on the Cefn men who fought in the First World War.

“There isn’t a community which escaped the impact of the war, and as we come to marking 100 years since the end of the war, it’s so important that all those who served are remembered.”